Today, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee’s Fair Housing Project filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Level One, Inc., a national apartment leasing call center, on the basis of source of income discrimination in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act.

The complaint alleges that while serving as a leasing agent for Sarbin Towers, an apartment complex in Washington, D.C., Level One told three separate fair housing testers employed by the Equal Rights Center that Housing Choice Vouchers would not be accepted at the property. Two of the testers were also told by Level One that no other properties that it represented accepted vouchers. However, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee has worked with Carmel Partners, Inc – the owner of Sarbin Towers – since last October to ensure that vouchers were being accepted at all of its properties in Washington, D.C. This lawsuit has the potential to make thousands of additional apartment units across the U.S. available to low-income families supported by the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, allowing them to move into safe and affordable housing of their choice.